British Dragonfly Society Sussex Group Newsletter (Late!) Spring 2015
No 34
Showing your true colours.
Which colour did you choose?
Images © D Sadler
With the general election just over, many of us are contemplating what the results of the election will mean for us. Seeing political candidates jostle for position and try to bring some agendas to the fore, in order to avoid talking about others, often makes politics a confusing and media hyped jumble.
Asking your local political candidate what they will be doing to do for dragonflies may seem a little glib or naïve, but actually it could be one of the most important questions that you ask. The natural environment provides us with a wide range of vital services, such as clean water, crop pollination, flood protection, carbon storage, food and raw materials. As our population grows, our demands on these natural services becomes greater. Despite political posturing which throws nature down as the limit to economic growth, health professionals, economists, business leaders and many others are starting to acknowledge just how intrinsic and essential the natural environment is both for our wellbeing and for our economy.
Evidence is accumulating that natural assets are the foundation of sustainable economic growth, healthy people and thriving communities. Dragonflies are a key indicator of a healthy environment and of many of the free but vital natural services such as clean water that we all require but which are so under threat from misguided and ill informed politicians. So perhaps its not so glib to ask about the political importance of dragonflies.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
The Secret of Dragonfly Flight
Dragonflies are incredible aerial acrobats. They can easily right themselves and manoeuvre tight turns while flying, and they can fly backwards amongst other aerial feats. Apparently each of their four wings is controlled by separate muscles, giving them exquisite control over their flight. Researchers from Cornell University are investigating the physics behind this ability by recording high-speed footage of dragonflies in flight and by using computer models to interpret the footage,
Dragonflies tend to have an unpredictable flight pattern which is what makes them fascinating. Researcher Jane Wang has helped to devise a unique method to make dragonflies perform repeatable aerial stunts which is to attach a tiny magnet to the underside of each insect which then allows them to hang upside down from a metal rod. When the magnet is released dragonflies somehow understand the orientation and perform a stereotypical manoeuvre — they roll their body to make a 180-degree turn.
By tracking the body and wing orientations using high-speed video of this rapid roll in high resolutions, the team could see how dragonflies were altering the aerodynamics on their wings to execute the turn.
Insects have freedom to rotate their wings, and by adjusting their wing position, dragonflies can change the aerodynamic forces acting on each of their four wings. These iridescent insects can also change the direction in which they flap their wings — known technically as their "stroke plane on each wing independently.
With so many different variables, understanding how dragonflies control their flight is a complicated task, but the researchers are trying to find out the key strategies that dragonflies use to turn, Dr Wang said that "Even though biological organisms are complex, they still obey some basic laws—in this case, fluid dynamics … I'm hoping to understand how these basic laws influence evolution of insects and the wiring of their neural circuitry."
http://phys.org/news/2014-11-secret-dragonflies-flight.html
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
The dragons bounce back
Hairy Dragonfly by Neil Fletcher / Sussex Wildlife Trust
As you may have read recently, in January 2013 Sussex Wildlife Trust cleared the Woods Mill lake of about 1,800 non native fish called carp. These fish are ‘bottom feeders’ which stir up silt and which more or less eat anything they find including aquatic insects, frog and newt larvae and plants.
The carp which had been put in the lake historically, were having a massively detrimental affect on the wildlife found there, including on the dragonflies and damselflies. Over 20 species of dragons and damsels have been recorded at Woods Mill in the past, but in more recent years a definite drop in numbers was occurring as carp numbers and fish sizes increased. No doubt the carp where eating the larvae and adults like tasty little snacks.
After the fish were removed, the lake was left dry to ensure that there were no residual fish hiding in the silt, and to allow the ecology to start again from new. With spring in the air, and a year of recovery behind us, we are now starting to see the huge beneficial effects that removing the carp has had, with beautiful clear water and thriving aquatic vegetation. As Sussex Wildlife Trust Senior Ecologist Graeme Lyons reported a few weeks ago, a pair of little grebe along with several other waterbirds have also taken up residence. A quick walk around the lake last summer resulted in a male and female hairy dragonfly , a female broad-bodied chaser , lots of copulating azure damselflies and large red damselflies, and we hope that we will see lots of other species arriving and successful breeding over the next few years. Now we just have to take out the goldfish that someone has just kindly put in there! by Penny Green
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Messing about on the River! … with big logs and a digger!
It has to be said that I am never more happy than when I can be found paddling around in streams. These days I tend to find myself working more with data streams than real ones, but this year I got a chance to truly mess about on the river.
With help from a willing gang of volunteers kitted out in chest waders and wellies, along with Andy Thomas of the Wild Trout Trust and Pete King from the Rivers Trust, we went to work on the river at the Knepp estate in West Sussex. Last year a major river restoration project was completed by the Environment Agency, who helped to ‘unstraighten’ and ‘unstraight-jacket’ around 8km of historically engineered river channel. The river now has its wiggles back, but it still lacks the many of the natural features that a river needs to help support a healthy range of wildlife. The uniform river channel shape provides no real refuge for fish, birds, insects and plants. For example, when the river floods there are no areas where young fish can shelter, so instead they are often swept out to sea.
Kitted out with chainsaws, spades and mallets, we set about creating shallow areas, pools and riffles, stills and deeps, patches of vegetation and dead wood, and diverse water flow patterns, both fast and slow, all of which help to provide shade and shelter, breeding habitat and food for a range of species. We did this mainly by digging large pieces of living and dead wood into the banks and bed of the river, creating disturbances in the flow which in turn help to kick start natural processes such as the deposition of soils and gravels, the natural erosion of pools and the binding of riverbanks by tree roots.
By restoring the natural processes in the river – the ones that the erosional force of the water itself is the driver of – we can help the river to restore itself, which is a most satisfying feeling. When it comes to rivers, nature often knows best and it is human interference in the first place which has made many of them unhealthy and unnatural. Many thanks to all our volunteers who spent two days covered in mud and water. By late spring we should be able to see the full fruits of our labours, but even as we laid the brash mattress in the river, dragonflies were already ovipositing their eggs on it, so we have high hopes for the future of this particular patch of river.
Fran Southgate www.knepp.co.uk
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Picture Perfect Your chance to be the winner of the SDS photo competition !
Every year some incredible dragonfly and damselfly photographs are uploaded to our Sussex Dragonfly Society Website. We are always amazed at the quality of images, the thought behind their composition, and the capturing of opportunistic moments on film for others to see.
We appreciate your images greatly and often use them in our newsletters, leaflets and events to publicise the plight of the dragonfly wherever we can. This year we are planning to carry out a major re-vamp of the Sussex Dragonfly Website www.webjam.com/bdssx, with a view to a future update of the Dragonflies of Sussex book, and we would love to have your help.
We would like to acknowledge some of the fantastic photographers out there and their great work. If you would like to see your images up on our new website or in our new book then please send copies of your favourite British dragonfly photos to [email protected].
Tell us your age, and give us a little bit of history about how you achieved the image, where it was taken and why you like it so much. Images which help to tell the story of a dragonflies life cycle, the issues around dragonfly conservation, or which just capture unusual or interesting features and moments are all great. The competition closes on September 30th, and we will announce the winner in our autumn newsletter.
We are offering the prize of a British Dragonfly Society Dragonfly Atlas (or vouchers to the same value) to the winner of the competition and runners up prizes of Dragonflies of Sussex books to four others. Plus full acknowledgement of the photographer wherever we use their image. I for one am already looking forward to seeing all your pictures !
Female Banded demoiselle © B Rainbow Emerging Common Club-tail © D Sadler
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Netting yourself a pond
Some of you may have already heard us mention the Arun & Rother Connections project which is helping local communities to enhance wetlands for people and wildlife. This year we will be collaborating with the Freshwater Habitats Trust to train local people (for free) to look after local ponds. We’ve already trained 15 people this year to survey for Great Crested Newts, and 30 people to spot toads crossings. Later this the year we will be holding more training days for those who want to survey for water voles, aquatic plants and the all important aquatic invertebrates.
If you or anyone you know would be interested in surveying your ponds or rivers in the ARC area for dragonflies and invertebrates, and you would like to attend our training day on 7th June then please get in touch. We have another aquatic plant training day on June 20th.
The more we know about our local wildlife, the more we can do to make our environment better for them. Last year 17 people took part in our dragonfly survey training, and we have already had some good records back from them. We look forward to seeing if we can expand the known range of the Common Club-tail further up the Arun & Rother rivers this year.
For more information or to book your place on an ARC training course, please contact [email protected]. And if you have ponds that you would like surveyed or restored in this area then let us know :)
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Grants for Saving
Dragonflies Would you like to help dragonflies by restoring wetland habitats and making people aware of how amazing they are? If so, Grants are available for the next 18 months in the Arun & Rother River Valleys in West Sussex
A total of £33,000 is available to local communities in the ARC project area until August 2016. The money is to support communities to implement a range of habitat, wildlife, access and education improvements in the ARC project area. Grants of up to £1000 are available to apply for at any time, with a simple two page application form. The sorts of things we can help fund include:
• Site management plans for local wildlife sites • Barn owl boxes, bat boxes, mammal cams etc • Tools and equipment to help volunteers carry out conservation work • Health and safety equipment for volunteer groups • Training for local people and groups • Access improvements and Interpretation (leaflets / boards etc) • School grounds enhancements • Hedge & shaw planting • Pond & scrape creation • Fencing and countryside furniture • Local events • Wetland habitat enhancements — including fen, wet meadow, reedbed, wet heath and wet woodland restoration.
The project area stretches from Littlehampton, north to Horsham and West to Petersfield.
To discuss a project idea please contact Fran Southgate on 01273 497555 or email [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also find more details about the ARC project at arunwesternstreams.org.uk/projects/arc
Large red damselfly © B Foreman
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Of Dragonflies and Dinosaurs: Researchers Help Map Insect Origins
and Evolution
An unprecedented two-year project to map the evolution of insects using molecular data of unparalleled quality and dimensions has just been finished. The report on the groundbreaking work is the cover story of the Nov. 7 issue of Science which found that insects originated at the same time as the earliest terrestrial plants about 480 million years ago, suggesting that insects and plants shaped the earliest land based ecosystems together.
The report found that when the dinosaurs ruled the earth, dragonflies and damselflies had already been there for many millions of years. They also determined that insects developed wings long before any other animal could do so, and at nearly the same time that land plants first grew substantially upwards to form forests.
But why is it important to understand the evolution of insects? Insects are diverse, economically and ecologically important organisms, The biodiversity of insects is huge. While life on earth began in the water, the first creatures on land and in the air were insects. Whatever people do, insects did it first. They waged war, they took slaves, they learned to work cooperatively, they flew, they farmed. Humans developed so many millions of years after the first insects that “people have been squashing bugs since humans appeared on earth.”
During the project, known as 1KITE (1,000 Insect Transcriptome Evolution) scientists from 10 nations worked together to uncover relationships among insects as well as knowledge of their behaviors, flight, and more. Insects are the most species-rich organisms on earth. We can only start to understand the enormous species richness and ecological importance of insects with a reliable reconstruction of how they are related.”
The 1KITE team had to develop new methods for analyzing huge sets of the genetic data derived from examining DNA in modern insects and comparing it to fossil records, With these comprehensive dating analyses, we are now able to say when flight, herbivory, and parasitism evolved, and much more. Ancestors of modern winged insects such as dragonflies were the first flying organisms, and we can now say how old they are – (hundreds of millions of years) – thanks to the dating work.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
EYE — D Corner No 14
Emerald damselflies
Emerald Damsel ( Lestes sponsa ) The Emerald damselfly is locally common in Britain and Ireland in still waters with plenty of aquatic and marginal vegetation, including acid heathland bogs, canals, pondside rushes or reeds. It can also tolerate brackish water. In Sussex, this damselfly is only found in scattered populations, usually associated with more acid waters. There are good populations on Pevensey levels as well as Romney marsh and Ashdown forest. Their patchy distribution across Sussex can be partially explained by the loss of and lack of good marginal habitats for egg laying and mating, the presence of fish in ponds and the varying geology and habitats across the County.
The Emerald damsel generally flies between June and late September, although this is very weather dependent. It has the uncharacteristic damselfly habit of resting with its wings outstretched in a half open position (more like a dragonfly). A rich metallic green colour, the male develops a blue pruinescence on segments 1, 2, 9 and 10 as it matures. The female is thicker bodied than the male with no blue pruinescence and a metallic and almost plain coloration. The ovipositor just reaches the tip of segment 10.
The pterostigma is present in both sexes and is well over twice but no more than five times as long as it is wide. It is brown (in the male), or yellow (in the female) but can be dark brown to black. There are antenodal veins in the forewings. The abdomen is linear from base to tip from a conspicuously swollen base, or swollen both basally and distally and markedly constricted in between (the basal swelling and slight median constriction more apparent in the male). Both sexes have very narrow yellow bands between the segments; without mid- dorsal spots.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Emerald Damsel Eye-D Corner cont ...
The Emerald damsel can be confused with the Scarce Emerald ( Lestes dryas ) and less so with Southern Emerald (Lestes barbarus ). The Scarce emerald is currently thought extinct in Sussex, although both Scarce and Southern Emeralds have been noted (once each) in the County in the last ten years. Although we might expect to see some increases in their numbers with climate change, at the moment there are no reported colonies in Sussex.
The Scarce emerald damselfly is a medium sized metallic green insect that usually rests with its wings half open. Adult males have blue eyes and have powder blue pruinescence on the thorax between the wings and on the segments at the top and bottom of the abdomen. In comparison, the females tend to be much duller green. It can be distinguished from the commoner L. sponsa by the less extensive pruinescence on the mature male, and the curved rather than straight anal appendages. The female has square dark spots on segment 1 rather than rounded as in sponsa (difficult to see in the field). The ovipositor extends just beyond the end of Segment 10.
Curved anal appendages on male L. dryas © J Luck
Scarce emerald female (left) and male (right) © D Sadler
Southern emerald damselfly male images © J Luck
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Local News
Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre agrees to help Local Wildlife Sites
Some of the best wildlife in Sussex is found on sites which are neither legally protected or nationally recognised for their wildlife interest. These wildlife sites are better known as Sites of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI’s) or LWS’s, and they are managed purely by voluntary agreement from the landowner. Until recently, West Sussex County Council were managing their local SNCI’s but with continuing cuts to their resources, they have reluctantly had to step away.
This would have left SNCI’s high and dry, with no legal protection or local support, but fortunately the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre has agreed to step in, to try and help manage and coordinate the wildlife records from SNCI’s. In the long run if staffing and resources allow, they hope to work with landowners of SNCI’s to try and enhance and restore the wildlife habitats on these local sites which are particularly important at a Parish level.
If you are a landowner of an SNCI and you would like some help and advice on how to manage your site, then please contact [email protected] or [email protected]. If you think that you may have an SNCI but you aren't sure then let us know and we can provide you with a map of Local Wildlife Sites in your area.
Welcomes, Thank You’s & Goodbyes Sussex Wildlife Trust bids a very fond farewell to Penny Green who has recently taken on a new job as ecologist and re-wilding expert at the Knepp estate www.knepp.co.uk . Thankfully she has agreed to carry on working with us on dragonflies for as long as she can.
… And a very warm welcome to Bob Foreman who has kindly agreed to step in to fill the void that Penny has left at the Sussex Biodiversity Records Centre, and also on the SDS committee.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this season’s newsletter and to those of you who have uploaded your photos and records to our website.
If you would like to view your dragonfly records online, they are accessible via the National Biodiversity Network Gateway, which will be updated soon with the new 2013/14 records.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
National News
British Dragonfly Society (BDS) Recorders Day 2015 The BDS annual Recorders' Day 2015 was held on Sat 14th March at Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottingham this year. It proved very popular and there was a fascinating range of topics presented. The indoor part of the day ended with an expert panel answering dragonfly related questions. This was followed by a tour of the Nature Reserve led by professional Ecologist and Trustee David Goddard.
Cheers to helping dragonflies! The BDS have teamed up with craft beer design specialists ‘From the Notebook Limited’ (FTN) to launch their first Dragonfly beer, Golden-ringed Dragonfly Golden Ale. Royalties from sales will help contribute to the work of BDS, so we hope it becomes a popular tipple!
Dragonfly Events 2015 National
th th Dragonfly Week is 4 - 12 July 2015 If you are planning a dragonfly event in 2015, why not hold it during National Dragonfly Week? Details will be posted soon on the BDS website www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/content/upcoming-events
Birdfair - Rutland Water
Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd August 2015
As usual, the BDS will have a stall at this year's RSPB Birdfair. This is a showcase event for attracting new members to dragonflies from birding with camping available. There is a whole website for the event at www.birdfair.org.uk with details of exhibitors, events and pricing.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Dragonfly Events — Local
An Introduction to Dragonflies and Damselflies Venue: The Mill Building, Woods Mill, Henfield, West Sussex, BN5 9SD Date: Thursday 4th June Time: 10:00 - 16:00 Tutor: Mike Russell Content: An Introduction to the adult stage of these wonderful insects. Suitable for anyone interested in natural history, no previous experience necessary. Book online www.sussexwildlifetrust.com/PBSCProduct.asp?ItmID=13818019 or please ring 01273 497561. Cost: SWT Members £30, Non-members £42
SDS Field Trips
Chasing Chasers at Chesworth
Date: Sunday 12th July Venue: Chesworth Farm, Horsham Time: Meet at 10:30am Meeting point: TQ 1742 2995 . Car park / gate at the junction of Queensway & Pedlars Way Leader: Sussex Dragonfly Society (Penny Green & Fran Southgate) Other information: Please contact [email protected] to book on the walk or call Fran on 01273 497555 Content: Come and help us to monitor that changes in dragonfly fauna which have occurred since the river floodplain was restored in 2014. See if we can spot the spread of a recently discovered pocket of the rare cut grass as well as a range of dragonflies and damselflies.
Heathland Foray at Graffham Common
Date: Sunday 23rd August Venue: Graffham and Lavington Commons Time: Meet at 10:30am Meeting point: Lavington common car park Grid Ref SU 949186 (Explorer Map 121) Leader: Sussex Dragonfly Society (Phil Belden and Bruce Middleton). Content: Conservation Works (or does it?) . A foray into some newly restored / recovered heathland sites to see the effect on our dragonfly fauna. Field trip to look for colonising dragonflies that (we hope) have re/discovered these places – what’s turned up and returning from the past records. Other information: Looking for acid habitat specialists including Emerald Damselfly, Golden- ringed Dragonfly and possibly Black Darter on Graffham and Lavington Commons and on the Western Rother
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Events continued …
Ashdown Forest & Moorlands Adventure
Date: Sunday July 26th Venue: Old Lodge / Moorlands Time: Meet at 10:30am Meeting point: In Old Lodge SWT Reserve Car Park (TQ469306) Leader: John Luck Other information: Looking for acid habitat specialists including Small Red Damselfly, Keeled Skimmer, Golden-ringed Dragonfly and possibly Black Darter. Then on to Moorlands for Brilliant Emeralds by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Love.
Knepp Dragonfly Surveys
The Knepp Estate is asking for professional dragonfly surveyors only to join them between 10 am and 3.30 pm for a dragonfly ‘Bioblitz’ on the following dates :-
Wednesday 3 rd June Wednesday 8 th July Wednesday 19 th August
Please meet at 10.00am at the Knepp Wildland Campsite - Knepp Wildland Safaris, New Barn Farm, off Swallows Lane, Dial Post, West Sussex, RH13 8NN. Grid Ref: TQ150203. Surveyors will be going out in a vehicle to try to cover as many of the estate’s water bodies as possible in one day. Please bring a picnic lunch, a drink and appropriate clothing for the British weather. Please contact Penny Green on 01403 741235 or 07739 083650 to let her know if you are coming. The surveys will be cancelled if there are adverse weather conditions.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
New to Recording
Dragonflies?
Here's a few tips to help you get started. A basic dragonfly record has 5 parts to it:
1. Your name and contact details 2. The date you made your sighting 3. The name of the site you were at 4. An OS Grid Reference for the site (Guide on how to do this to follow very shortly) 5. What you saw
Other information that can be recorded, and is useful to us, includes the type of habitat, the weather, the altitude of the site and breeding behaviour. Please send your records to [email protected] or enter them into i record on the web.
First and Last
Our last record for 2014 appears to be a sighting on 14th November of a Common darter at Crawter’s Brook by Elliot Dowding.
It’s not the first dragonfly to be recorded this year, but this female Broad-bodied Chaser was spotted sunning itself by Jake Everitt early at Warnham Nature Reserve on May 5th.
Image © F Southgate
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Kids Corner Dragonfly Fact or Myth?
There are lots of fun facts about dragonflies. Some are scientifically proven and some are really just myths that have been around for years. Can you tell the difference between the myths and the facts about dragonflies?
A) A bee flaps its wings about 300 times a second, but a dragonfly flaps its wings only about 30 times. ( fact, dragonflies have two sets of wings so they don’t have to beat them as much to fly.)
B) A dragonfly is a very strong and good flyer, and can fly at speeds of up to 36 miles per hour. (fact, but not all dragonflies are that fast – one was clocked at this speed in Australia)
C) There were huge dinosaur dragonflies that lived 300 million years ago. (fact – the largest fossil found had a 2 ½ foot wingspan, and currently there are dragonflies in Costa Rica that measure 7 ½ inches across the wings.)
D) Dragonflies have huge stingers and some people are allergic to their stings and can die. (myth – the thing that looks like a stinger on a dragonfly is actually called a clasper and the male dragonfly uses it to hold onto the female when they are mating.)
E) There are about 5,000 different species of dragonflies all over the world except in Antarctica. 450 of the species can be found in the United States (fact, most of the 5,000 species are found in remote, tropical areas.)
F) A dragonfly’s eyes have about 30,000 lenses and a dragonfly can see all the way around it, but they don’t see details very well. (fact, a human eye only has one lens and sees better than a dragonfly, but only to the front and side of them.)
G) From the time a dragonfly egg hatches, it can live anywhere from six months to six years, but only about two months as an actual dragonfly. (fact , most of the time spent is as a nymph in the water before the dragonfly’s metamorphosis into a full grown dragonfly.)
H) A dragonfly’s scientific name is Odonata, which comes from the words “tooth-jawed” because the entomologist (insect scientist), Johann Christian Fabricius, who named them studied the dragonflies’ mouths in order to distinguish the different species. Now their wings are studied as well to classify dragonflies. (fact – other names for dragonflies around the world are water dipper in England, old glassy in China, and the ancient Celts called dragonflies big needle of wings.)
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Adopting a Waterbody It’s easy!
I’m sure that many of you get out and about in the countryside on a regular basis, and that on your way you spot the odd streak of dragonfly colour zooming across your field of vision. Well, if you would like to adopt a local pond, reservoir or stream that you visit regularly and tell us what drag- onfly life you see there then it couldn't be easier.
Just complete and return the form below to Penny Green, Sussex Dragonfly Society, c/o Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, BN5 9SD . All returns will be held in our local database so that we can provide you with support on identification. If you’re not great at identifying dragonflies, never fear, you can email or send us your pictures and we’ll get our experts to identify them for you!
Name
Address
Contact Tel No E-Mail
Name of Adopted Site
OS Grid reference (where possible)
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Top Ten Things To Do To Keep Dragons Flying In Sussex
1. Report your sightings either at www.brc.ac.uk/irecord, or to the Sussex Biodiversity Records Centre at Woods Mill 2. Take photos of unusual dragonflies that you see and post them on our website 3. Come on our free training days and guided walks with local experts – more pairs of eyes mean we know more about what’s happening with our dragonflies 4. Build a pond in your garden 5. Become a member of your local group – No charge, just send your contact details to [email protected] or c/o Penny Green, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, BN5 9SD, and we’ll keep you up to date with our newsletters. 6. Adopt a waterbody near you and report back to us on its dragon and damsel fauna 7. Report the first and last times you see individual species in each year 8. Use less water! Simple as it sounds if we use less water there is less pressure on our water resources and therefore on our wetlands that these amazing insects rely on. 9. Use eco products for washing clothes and washing up — they leave less damaging residues in our waste water and so help our winged friends by reducing pollution. 10. Look out for aliens! Not little green men, but plants: Parrotsfeather, Australian swamp stonecrop, Floating Pennywort and Water fern among others. These non-native plants when released into our wetlands can reproduce rapidly and can smother ponds and ditches etc making it difficult for dragonflies and damselflies to breed and to reproduce.
If you would like to contribute to the next edition of the newsletter or would like to participate in any of the events listed, please get in touch.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
Contacts Core Group
Chair: Ben Rainbow — [email protected] Editor & Wetland advisor: Fran Southgate - [email protected] Sussex BRC: Bob Foreman - 01273 497521 - [email protected] Website: & Publicity Vacant position. Please contact Fran Southgate Secretary: Bob Foreman / Penny Green Pond Conservation Advisors: Bev Wadge — [email protected] Technical specialists: Phil Belden
Other Useful Contacts
Wildcall – Free advice on all wildlife issues. 01273 494777; [email protected] British Dragonfly Society - [email protected] Booth Museum - [email protected] . 01273 292777 Freshwater Habitats Trust (ex Ponds Conservation) — www.freshwaterhabitats.org.uk Sussex Wildlife Trust — www.sussexwt.org.uk Sussex Wetlands Project — www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/livinglandscape/living_wetlands National Insect Week — www.nationalinsectweek.co.uk British Dragonfly Society Shop — www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/content/bds-shop
Donations The Sussex Dragonfly Society is run exclusively with donations and proceeds from the sale of the Dragonflies of Sussex book.
If you would like to make a donation towards dragonfly work and restoring wetlands for dragonflies then please write a cheque made out to British Dragonfly Society (Sussex Group), and send it to Sussex Wetland Landscapes Project, c/o Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, BN5 9SD. All donations will be reserved exclusively for dragonfly and damselfly work, surveys, and wetland habitat enhancement work.
Useful Publications
• The leaflet ‘Dragonflies and Damselflies in your garden is available as a pdf file at :- www.british-dragonflies.org.uk/sites/british-dragonflies.org.uk/files/images/ GardenDragonflies_0.pdf • Field Guide to the Dragonflies & Damselflies of Great Britain & Ireland. S Brooks & R Lewington. • Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Britain. Field Studies Council • Dragonflies: New Naturalist. PS Corbet. Collins • How to encourage dragonflies and damselflies on your land — www.sussexotters.org/ wildlife/dragonflies.htm • "British Dragonflies" 2nd edition. D Smallshire and A Swash.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter
The Essential Garden Companion & Guide
for Countryside Explorations
THE DRAGONFLIES OF SUSSEX
The first ever published book on Sussex Dragonflies. by Phil Belden, Vic Downer, John Luck, Hew Prendergast & Dave Sadler.
The indispensable guide to these aerobatic, highly colourful and beautiful insects. With detailed distribution maps and notes on status, habitat and conservation, , etc.
Available from Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, Sussex BN5 9SD. (01273) 492630, or from good book shops (ISBN 0-9525549-1-7) NOW JUST £5 plus post & packaging Payable to ‘Sussex Wildlife Trust’ c/o Fran Southgate Proceeds go to dragonfly and wetland conservation
Generously sponsored by: Environment Agency, English Nature, Southern Water, East Sussex County Council, West Sussex County Council, Brighton & Hove City Council, Chichester District Council, Horsham District Council, Wakehurst Place, Profile Security, Temple Environmental Consultants, The Wetland Trust, Gravetye Mano r, Harveys Brewery.
Sussex Dragonfly Society Newsletter